Anxiety
An emotional and physical state of excessive, often debilitating, fear, dread, or unease. Anxiety involves a unique interplay between our thoughts and physical sensations in the body, often with one negatively reinforcing the other. I often see people rely on rationalizing or intellectualizing their anxiety, which is sometimes helpful but also ignores the fact that anxiety plays out in our nervous system. It’s actually really important that our body has an internal mechanism that helps us have the capacity to feel stress and anxiety. I help clients both understand the nature of their anxiety and create an approach that expands personal awareness in their body and feel more empowered to respond with agency to their anxiety.
Complex or developmental trauma
Prolonged exposure to emotionally challenging events. This type of trauma is different than single event traumas and often has a relational component. Often times, people who have experienced developmental trauma do not consider their experiences traumatic and sometimes struggle with dismissing or even gas lightening themselves. Developmental trauma often impacts one’s view of self and their ability to relate or connect with others. This type of trauma can make things feel unsafe and we often rely on unsustainable methods of coping to disconnect or distract. Therapy involves creating a compassionate space for clients to explore these deep wounds, and I pull from somatic and attachment-based counseling theories.
single event trauma
These are often events that happen unexpectedly and result in the development of trauma responses based on the event. This type of trauma is what we may more traditionally understand as PTSD. My training, especially in Somatic Experiencing, allows me a framework to provide specialized therapy for inescapable attacks, falls, high velocity or motor vehicle accidents, medical procedures or surgeries, and sexual assault traumas.